Efficacy and Costs of Restoring Wetland Breeding Habitat for Imperiled Amphibians in the Southeastern U.S.

Stonecypher, E. Tucker; Lee, Linda S.; Weir, Scott M.; King, Elizabeth G.; Davis, Charles E.; Lance, Stacey L.

doi:10.1007/s13157-024-01821-8

Efficacy and Costs of Restoring Wetland Breeding Habitat for Imperiled Amphibians in the Southeastern U.S.

Journal Article · Wed May 29 00:00:00 EDT 2024 · Wetlands

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-024-01821-8· OSTI ID:2386962

^[1]; Lee, Linda S. ^[2]; Weir, Scott M. ^[3]; King, Elizabeth G. ^[4]; Davis, Charles E. ^[5]; Lance, Stacey L. ^[2]

University of Georgia, Athens, GA (United States); University of Georgia, Aiken, SC (United States); Savannah River Ecology Laboratory - University of Georgia
University of Georgia, Aiken, SC (United States)
Dawson Solutions LLC, Helena, MT (United States)
University of Georgia, Athens, GA (United States)
United States Department of Agriculture, Aiken, SC (United States)

Herbaceous isolated wetlands in the North American Southeastern Coastal Plain are important breeding sites for many imperiled amphibians. However, most are degraded from alterations to historic fire disturbance and hydrologic regimes. Without fire, encroaching woody vegetation can transition wetlands to more terrestrial conditions and negatively impact amphibian breeding habitat, yet few studies have experimentally tested the efficacy, cost, or temporal requirement of current methods to restore herbaceous wetland vegetation. Here, we tested the interaction of manipulating wetland canopy and leaf litter/duff to promote herbaceous vegetation within one year (i.e., one breeding season) in degraded herbaceous wetlands in South Carolina. We assessed plant response via herbaceous cover, composition, and species similarity to the wetland seed bank and then related treatment performance to treatment cost. Removing trees combined with burning, disturbing, or removing duff significantly increased herbaceous cover and proportions of wetland plants and graminoids. Removing trees alone did not improve herbaceous cover compared to closed-canopy controls, and manipulating duff alone had limited positive effects on plant cover and composition. The most expensive yet effective treatment was Tree Removal-Duff Removal, while Tree Removal-Duff Disturbance was the most cost-effective. At a minimum, we recommend removing trees and burning to kickstart herbaceous recovery. Promisingly, comparisons of our data with previous seed bank studies from these same wetlands indicate there was limited seed bank attrition during 30 years of woody encroachment. Results from this study should aid practitioners in choosing wetland restoration techniques to better conserve at-risk species in the Southeastern Coastal Plain.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States). Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (SREL)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Environmental Management (EM)

Grant/Contract Number:: EM0005228

OSTI ID:: 2386962

Journal Information:: Wetlands, Journal Name: Wetlands Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 44; ISSN 0277-5212

Publisher:: SpringerCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Cost-benefit
Duff
Fire ecology
Herbaceous
Isolated wetland
Rana capito

Efficacy and Costs of Restoring Wetland Breeding Habitat for Imperiled Amphibians in the Southeastern U.S.

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